I’m going to try to cover a lot of prospects, so what I’ll do is put everything in bullet form with the prospect I’m talking about at the beginning of the bullet. I’ll go alphabetically.
- Sven Andrighetto: Had the smoothest run of anyone in the agility exercise to start the day, where skaters were skating through slalom poles and made to turn left or right at the last second by a red or green light going off. Although smoothest, part of that was because he wasn’t pushing as hard as others. Speed was pretty good but not spectacular.
- Nathan Beaulieu: Unbelievable skater, and because he was in Group 3, he didn’t do the later drills while I was there. Fluid, powerful strides are the name of his game.
- Alex Belzile: AHLer, nothing really stood out.
- Mac Bennett: Pretty good skater, not a bad shooter either, but significantly behind the guys I figured he’d be behind like Beaulieu, Tinordi, Dietz, Ellis, Thrower, Nygren, etc.
- Matthew Boudens: Didn’t notice him.
- Michael Bournival: My opinion on Bournival hasn’t changed since the Canadiens acquired him for O’Byrne, I like him a lot. He has really excellent speed and his conditioning is out of this world. He’s not going to be a huge scorer but he can put the puck in the net. A 3rd line scoring center is likely what he’ll be, which is solid.
- Tim Bozon: I didn’t see much of Tim today, he was good in the agility test but not among the best. He was in Group 3 for drills so he didn’t do any passing or shooting.
- Nikolas Brouillard: Not much to notice there. I admit that I was paying more attention to prospects than invitees.
- Phillippe Cadourette: Nothing special, I don’t think.
- Michael Cichy: Awkward looking. He’s a fringe prospect at best.
- Sebastian Collberg: Collberg was one of the most impressive in the agility tests, blitzing through with his feet moving and reacting instantaneously to the turn signals. He displayed an awesome wrist shot and the best or second best puckhandling of anyone in a drill where the players had to stickhandle with 3 pucks at once while doing a lap of the ice. He did struggle to handle a couple of passes though.
- Michael Condon: Really nothing special there, got beat a lot.
- Connor Crisp: Didn’t see him out there, may not have been skating. I think he was listed as injured the other day.
- Jacob De La Rose: Moved really well for a big man in the agility tests, but didn’t take part in puck skills as he was in Group 3.
- Jean-Sebastien Dea: Had a couple of good shots but nothing that says he’s a must-sign.
- Jordan Dekort: Got beat even more than Condon.
- Peter Delmas: Didn’t skate.
- Gabriel Desjardins: He looked to me like the guy with the highest skill level of the invitees. Had some good puck skills and made some nice moves.
- Josiah Didier: Had a good start in the speed test where the players would race the length of the rink and back in 6 intervals, but faded heavily by the end. Perhaps poor conditioning.
- Darren Dietz: Solid on the speed/endurance test, but where he really stood out was on the one-timer and passing drills for defenseman. He has some good instincts and seemed to get high velocity on every shot.
- Ben Duffy: Really struggled with puckhandling, made a few really bad passes.
- Morgan Ellis: Ellis wasn’t bad at anything but also didn’t really stand out. His passing on the one-timer drills was probably his best work.
- Stefan Fournier: Struggled big time in the endurance test, looked very out of shape and basically walked the entire way back on his 6th rush.
- Zachary Fucale: Unsurprisingly, he was head and shoulders above every other goaltender there, but tough to get a read on how good he really is from this kind of practice. It took a long time for anyone to beat him, as only Martin Lapointe beat him for most of the practice. In total I think he gave up 3 goals not including Lapointe. Showed some real second effort against Leblanc a couple times, but again, it’s practice.
- Nathan Glass: Didn’t see much worth writing about from him.
- Matt Grassi: Even less to like about this one.
- Maxime Gravel: I didn’t notice him.
- Jeremy Gregoire: Better speed than I was sold on, but still not great. Looks a little awkward when forced to turn. Biggest knock though was a lack of hockey sense. Three times on a 2-on-1 drill he was open and cut off a passing lane to himself with bad positioning.
- Louis-Philip Guindon: Didn’t notice him, he may have been in Group 3.
- Zach Hall: One of three players to beat Fucale. He has a really solid wrist shot and was an okay passer on rush plays.
- Samuel Henley: Easily the worst puckhandler that I saw today. Really slow with the puck and looking down at it a lot.
- Patrick Holland: I was surprised a bit by Holland’s skating, as he kept up with Bournival for 4/6 rushes. He didn’t stand out when pucks were in play though, which was equally surprising.
- Charles Hudon: This kid is sick. Right up there with Collberg for speed and agility, but in my opinion he’s closer to the show. His shot is great, his passing may be even better, and he can handle bad passes with ease. He and Collberg basically raced through the lap with three pucks, very impressed by him in every way.
- Louis Leblanc: Leblanc’s thing is not speed, but we already know that. When out for Group 2 he lead every drill, setting the example for the young guys. He was easily the best of Group 2 in the puckhandling tests, but I don’t think he was at the same level as Hudon and Collberg. Where Leblanc really lit it up though was in a test for moving the puck in tight spaces. As Chris Boucher said on Twitter, cutbacks are his thing, which is probably why that high ankle sprain was so devastating last year.
- Artturi Lehkonen: Didn’t skate, he has a minor hand injury.
- Stephan MacAuley: Didn’t notice him today.
- Mark MacMillan: He didn’t stand out much today, but had some good rushes and showed flashes of offense.
- Michael McCarron: I expected McCarron to struggle this morning in drills that largely focused on skating, but he didn’t. His agility is surprisingly good, not just for a big man, and his reaction time was quick. In the speed drills he was slower than most of his group for the first two rushes, but by the third one he was finishing in the top 2 every time, and won his last two rushes. His long, powerful stride really took over when other players started to get winded. From a puck skills perspective, he wasn’t on the level of Collberg, Hudon, or Leblanc, but he wasn’t bad by any stretch. He slowed down with three pucks in the stickhandling drill, but he never lost control. His shooting and passing were also up there at the top of his group, just below Leblanc, he even showed off a few dirty dangles. All in all I came away pretty impressed, you can see what Timmins and Bergevin saw, and if he does pan out he’s an absolute home run with that frame.
- Matt Murphy: He was clearly well-conditioned as he beat all the players he was matched up with in the speed/endurance test in the second half. He seemed to have a reasonable level of skill with the puck as well.
- Joonas Nattinen: I didn’t see him today. He may have been in Group 3, but I didn’t see him in warmups either. May have just missed him.
- Magnus Nygren: Not the fastest skater, although finishing a distant third in speed behind Tinordi and Beaulieu could be a bit deceiving. Top end speed isn’t what stands out about Nygren anyway; what stands out is his offense. I don’t think I’ve seen a heavier shot on the Habs outside of P.K. Subban, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating. Three times on a rush drill where three players would skate in with pucks shooting from progressively further in (outside the blueline, the blueline, and inside the blueline), Nygren beat both Condon and Dekort with heavy shots from outside the blueline. These goalies are not all world, but beating anyone from that far out impressed the heck out of me.
- Erik Nystrom: The 6th-round pick in 2012 isn’t a big guy and looks a little smaller than his listed 5’11”, but he was quick on the puck and had some nice moves. He’s by no means a high end skill player, but he has the look of a guy that could surprise you and make the NHL.
- Greg Pateryn: I believe he’s in Group 3 as I didn’t see him out there today.
- Steven Quailer: Wish I could say Quailer impressed me but he wasn’t a standout anywhere. All those injuries have taken away his dynamic speed, and the rest of his game doesn’t compensate enough.
- Martin Reway: A seriously interesting prospect. Reway is the smallest person in camp, measuring in at 158 pounds. He skated in Group 1 and there wasn’t much of a gap in puck skills between him and Collberg or Hudon. He’s behind them for sure, but he’s also less physically developed. What stood out to me is that he was the best playmaker on the ice. On 2-on-1 drills he always got his pass through, no matter who was defending, usually right on the tape. His frame is extremely slight but his skills are there.
- Braeden Shaw: Another of the invitees that impressed. He didn’t stand out in any of the fitness tests, but he showed a real scoring instinct when the puck was brought into play. Drove the net maybe a bit harder than this format of practice would require.
- Frank Simonelli: Definitely a bit higher skill level than most of the other invitees, but still nothing that would scream that he needs to be signed to a contract.
- Colin Suellentrop: Won the first two heats of his speed test, but faded in the last four. showed some flashes of good offensive instinct. One of the better invitees.
- Colin Sullivan: Didn’t notice him today, may be in Group 3.
- Christian Thomas: He was in Group 3 so I only saw him to the agility test. He has good agility but he’s got a weird stutter step to his stride that makes him lose a ton of acceleration. He started every rush at least a stride behind his fellow racers, but caught them every time by the end. Maybe he wasn’t giving his all, but I don’t think I see the elite speed with him that some have talked about.
- Dalton Thrower: Did okay in the speed/endurance test, getting stronger as it went on, but he was in group three so I don’t have anything else to go on.
- Jarred Tinordi: The big man has been working on his puck skills. He wasn’t fantastic with the puck, but he wasn’t losing control when balancing three. Tinordi has also improved his straight-line speed, beating Beaulieu on rushes three times. I’m not convinced Beaulieu was giving his all, but it’s possible he was and that Tinordi’s long stride is just too much to overcome.
- Daine Todd: Didn’t notice him.
- Brady Vail: A bit awkward in the agility test as his timing was a little off, but he’s in Group 3 so I can’t judge the rest.
- Dustin Walsh: Didn’t really notice him in the agility test, and he’s in Group 3.
